


Answers

by IncompleteSentanc (Erava)



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-09-13
Packaged: 2018-12-27 17:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12085959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erava/pseuds/IncompleteSentanc
Summary: Zack stands at the brink of death when a woman appears, changing the world as he knows it forever.The Warrior of Light saves Zack Fair and sets course on saving the world next.





	Answers

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little one-shot that popped into my head a couple nights ago. Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> "Shining is the Land's light of justice  
> Ever flows the Land's well of purpose  
> Walk free, walk free, walk free, believe...  
> The Land is alive, so believe..." - Answers, FFXIV Soundtrack
> 
> (https://imgur.com/a/d8sND) for Meara's appearance.

* * *

 

 

“The price of freedom sure is high.” Zack muses as he watches the Shinra infantry line up. 

Infantry that would, on a good day, be doomed to die when faced against a SOLDIER. But he was alone and there were well over a hundred of them. 

Even Zack couldn’t compete with those numbers. Not with them almost surrounding him, an even a helicopter approaching in the distance. Approaching from the Midgar Wastes.

_ So close, _ he can’t help but think achingly.  _ I got so close. Aeris…  _ His hand on his sword tightens, and so does his resolve.  _ Cloud.  _

He draws the Buster Sword, lifting it in front of him and bowing his head slightly.  _ Angeal. For you, and for Cloud.  _

He steps forward.

The guns raise and cock, the helicopter inches ever closer, and Zack lifts the sword.

Bullets fire immediately and Zack swings his sword, about to bury it into the chest of the nearest infantryman - but a flash of light stops him. Light circles him, blue and white, and a barrier sends the bullets pinging away from him and right back at the infantry - who cry out in alarm. 

_ “Get down!” _ Someone, a woman, yells from right behind him. He ducks on instinct, and blinks in shock as a giant boulder soars over his head. It doesn’t hit the infantrymen - no, it  _ sails _ through the sky like a rocket, smashing dead on onto the approaching helicopter. It spins before slamming into the rocks and exploding, sending infantrymen flying and screaming. Zack straightens up and looks over his shoulder, wide eyes only widening further.

There’s a woman behind him, and a chunk of earth missing from the ground at her feet. There’s a black metal mask over her eyes and nose and she wears a black jacket and skirt. She holds a staff, white and blue light emitting from the tip of it to fuel the barrier surrounding them. “What the hell?” Zack demands, but the woman doesn’t stop to pay him any attention. 

She moves the staff and her hand, and blue light shoots down into the earth. Like a giant spoon and slingshot, a boulder scoops out and flings itself into the masses. Zack flinches as it explodes against the people, sending them screaming and falling. The woman steps forward, her free hand grabbing his forearm, and he looks at her in alarm. He can’t see her eyes through the metal, only a few slits in it to allow her any sort of vision. He can’t imagine she sees well through it, but she seems to. 

“My name is Meara.” The woman says, pulling her hand back and offering it up to him instead. “I’m here to help you, Warrior of Light.”

“Warrior of what?” Zack asks, incredulous, but he takes the hand nonetheless. Magic floods through him and the few scrapes he had vanish, in spite of him not seeing her cast anything. The tip of her staff glows for an instant before the magic fades from him. She pulls him to his feet, blonde hair whipping from her face. Most of it is bundled back in a ponytail, but a few strands fly free, framing her face until the air  _ moves  _ around them. 

“Prepare yourself.” Meara warns, lifting her staff up high with both hands. “I’m going to have to drop the barrier. Look away from me.” She warns and Zack hesitates before doing so. He raises his sword, standing at the ready, and the barrier drops. He hears magic sizzle behind him and it rushes out like a gust of wind. Bright light flashes behind him, blinding the infantrymen, and Zack cuts through them so easily he almost feels guilty. 

Almost. 

They were about to kill him, after all. 

“Fight!” Meara cries and he does.

He fights, bullets zinging through him and pinging off of his sword when he can. He never falters, because every time bullets hit him, Meara’s magic is just a step behind. His wounds seal as fast as they appear, but that doesn’t seem to slow down her own attacks. Rocks fly by and air rips past, tearing and smashing into their enemies.

It’s minutes, not even ten, before the last enemy falls to Zack’s sword. Meara’s magic washes over him, strengthening him before he can even falter, and he looks at her suspiciously. “Who are you? Another Shinra experiment?”

“I have no idea what Shinra is.” She admits instantly, lowering her staff to her side. It’s beautifully intricate, now that he can stop and look at it. It has a golden disk at the top, a silver woman emerging halfway from it with wings spreading from her back. An angel rising from the metal. “But I’m here to help you. I was sent by the Lifestream.”

“You- what?” Zack questions, blinking. “Sent by the Lifestream? Bullshit.”

“It’s not.” The woman sounds faintly irritated now, as if she isn’t speaking the utterly ridiculous. “This Planet is dying. She was screaming out for help, and I answered Her cries.”

He blinks at that, hesitating at the sheer confidence in her voice. “That doesn’t make sense. The Planet isn’t alive. The Lifestream is just-”

“She is. But not for much longer at this rate.” Meara gestures with a half-gloved hand at the wastes before them. “I’m here to help. Take this.” She reaches into her jacket and throws so quickly Zack barely manages to catch it.

It’s an orange-red crystal and he blinks down at it incredulously. “What is this?” He asks, running his thumb over the object. It almost seems to  _ thrum _ at his touch. 

“It’s your crystal, Warrior of Light.” The woman explains, silently sliding her staff into a harness across her back. “It’s your burden now.” She says dryly.

“Burden? What?” Zack demands, blinking. 

“It’s magic, Warrior of Light. Power.” She steps closer, reaching out and pressing a fingertip to the crystal. It definitely thrums at that, sending a small vibration through his palm. It almost  _ purrs. _ “Fire affinity. Wild and untameable. Supposedly, much like yourself.”

“What?” Zack repeats, again, unable to help it.

Her lips twitch. “They match us, Warrior of Light. The crystal chooses us, not the other way around. Your first crystal is fire. Mine was water.” She reaches into her jacket again, pulling out a cool blue one now. “Calm. Gentle. A steady current. My husband will never stop teasing me for that.”

“What?”

“His name is Thancred Waters. It’s all a joke to him. If he was a Warrior, his crystal would be air, I like to think. Playful but occasionally vicious.”

_ “What?” _

“It’s all terribly confusing at first, I know, but you’ll get used to it.” Meara smiles at him, all white teeth and a smug sort of glee. “It’s our job to, after all.”

_ “What?” _ Zack repeats, one more time, before something occurs to him. “Shit. Shit, Cloud!”

“Cloud?” Meara echoes questioningly, looking up at the sky, but he ignores her, turning and running. He barely hears her footsteps behind him, following him as he runs from the bodies and metal littering the ground. 

Cloud is still where he left him, but instead of being half-propped against the rocks, he’s collapsed onto his side, one hand outstretched and his eyes closed shut. “Cloud!” Zack cries, sliding to his knees mid-run and scootching the last few inches to Cloud’s side. Meara is a step behind him. “Can you help him? He needs a healer.” Zack asks, a bit desperately.

“Let me see him.” Meara instructs, drawing her staff so she can kneel down more gracefully than he had. She lowers it to her side and Zack lowers Cloud in front of her. Her hand reaches up, brushing hair from Cloud’s forehead. “He’s ill.” She murmurs. “What happened to him?”

“Mako.” Zack spits bitterly. “A lot of it. He’s been in a coma for months.”

“Mako?” Meara echoes questioningly, frowning softly. “I can help him, I think. His connection to the Lifestream has been interrupted.” 

“What?” Zack asks, for the umpteenth time. Meara shakes her head.

“It’s complicated. Just as there is a Lifestream for the Planet, there’s a Lifestream for each and every one of us. Our own personal one, connected to the Planet’s Lifestream. His is… not quite disconnected from the Planet, but close to it.” She reaches into her pocket, pulling out a green crystal this time. Mako green. “This will help.” She presses the stone to his forehead, the crystal glowing softly for a moment. The glow sinks into Cloud’s skin, spreading out across his face, and the man’s breath stutters for a second before he inhales deeper than before. Meara pulls the crystal back, tucking it away. “There. He’s been… reintroduced to the Lifestream. Give him a few days.” 

“That’s it?” Zack asks blankly, staring at the strange woman. “That’s all you needed to do?”

“Well, yes. It’s actually very complicated, what I just did, and very few people are studied enough to know how to do that. But that was all I needed to do, yes.”

“And he’s cured now.”

“No. But he will be in a few days.”

“What the shit.” Zack exhales a harsh breath, hands rising to pull at his hair. “What the fuck is going on? I don’t understand any of this.” He says in a rush. “I don’t understand  _ any of it. _ Who are you? Where did you come from? Why are you here? What the hell are these crystals and what the fuck is a Warrior of Light?”

“Calm down.” Meara says gently, lifting a hand pacifyingly at him. “I can explain everything, but you might find it hard to believe.”

“What I find hard to believe is a woman using magic to throw boulders at helicopters and curing Mako Poisoning with a single touch.”

“Throwing boulders is actually very easy.” Meara says almost apologetically.

“What the  _ fuck.” _ Zack demands.

“My name is Meara. I’ve mentioned that, I know, sorry. I come from a planet named Hydaelyn.”

“A different planet?” 

“A sister planet.” Meara corrects. “Hydaelyn and Gaia, connected by the Lifestream. I… died. In a way.” Meara says slowly, hands curling tightly around her staff. “Someone with powers like us. He and his allies were Warriors as well, could use the aether- could use  _ magic _ like we could, and he used it to… well. I didn’t die, but I was dying, and Hydaelyn saw an opportunity. I’m Her Warrior of Light, just as you are Gaia’s.”

“What the hell is a Warrior of Light?”

“Someone with crystals like us. Someone who can speak to the Planet and hear Her cries.”

“I can’t hear Her.” Zack corrects and Meara frowns slightly.

She’s silent for a moment, then shakes her head. “A difference between here and my home, then. But you are Gaia’s Warrior of Light. One of them, rather. There are many of us, and many of you.” Meara glances down at Cloud, frowning deeper. “Perhaps you both are.”

“Cloud…” Zack trails of helplessly after a moment. “Magic?”

“Magic. Aether. The Lifestream that runs through us. You use it to make yourself stronger and quicker. I use it to perform magic.”

“That’s- It’s not magic that lets me do that. It’s Mako. Condensed Lifestream.”

“That’s what I just said.”

“But-”

“It’s the same thing.”

“It’s not!” Zack protests, running a hand anxiously through his hair. 

“You’re overreacting. Calm down, Warrior of Light-”

“My name is Zack, damn it. Zack Fair.”

“Zack. Sorry.” Meara offers with a frown. “Zack, then. Zack, we can sit down and talk about everything, but you need to accept this fact first. I’m from another Planet, and She sent me here to help you.”

“Help me? Why?”

“Because She’s dying. Both our Planets are.” Meara says quietly. “But Hydaelyn is safe for now. I’ve defended Her, and bought us time. But She heard Gaia, Her sister, crying out for help, and sent me to do so. My fellow Warriors of Light will keep Hydaelyn safe while I’m here.”

“And you’re helping me do what?”

“Save Her.” Meara murmurs, her hand gripping her staff so tight her knuckles go white. Zack stares at that for a moment, unsure. “And to save Her, She needs Her Warriors. So I’m here to help.”

“How?”

“I just saved your life, didn’t I?” Meara quirks a small, slightly bitter smile. “I arrived just in time.”

“You did.” He admits. “Where did you come from?”

“I only just arrived now, to be truthful. I arrived just in time to see you get ready to fight.” 

“And you knew to help me? How?” He demands. Meara uses her free hand to touch the earth pointedly. “The Planet.” He realizes.

“The Planet.” She confirms. “Gaia. She’s speaking to me, quiet though She is. She’s in pain.” Meara says sadly, fingers digging into the earth. “She cries out for help, incessantly. How could I say no?”

Zack stares at her and he’s pretty sure she stares back, gaze hidden behind her mask. “Why are you hiding your face?” He asks blankly, for lack of anything else to say.

She pauses at that, lips parting for a second, before she reaches up and pulls the mask off. He’s immediately taken aback - not because of some hideous deformity, but for lack of one. She’s pretty, with high cheek bones and green eyes that remind him of Aeris. There’s a tattoo on the side of her cheek, running from the edge of her eyelid to halfway down her face. It looks tribal, black and white in an almost flame-like pattern.

“I’ve become very famous in my world.” She explains. “I wear my mask to hide myself, or I’d never be left alone. Besides,” She adds, and her smile shows in her eyes, “beauty attracts attention.”

With that, she slides the mask back on, black metal hiding her eyes and cheekbones once again. 

“You aren’t modest.” Zack says almost numbly. She laughs at that, bright and cheery.

“No. But if you think I’m bad, you should meet my husband.” 

He doesn’t get the joke, of course, but he manages a weak smile.

His head is spinning, overwhelmed and overworked, and he tries not to let it show how shaken he really feels.

It’s five minutes after that that the helicopter arrives.

 

* * *

 

The helicopter hovers where they’d been fighting. “We need to move.” Zack hisses, dragging Cloud up to his feet. The limp form is even more pliant than before and it’s difficult to heave him up, but Zack manages. Meara, on the other hand, steps back and holds her staff up at the ready. 

“I can deal with any attackers, Zack.” She promises him. 

“We’ve drawn too much attention.” Zack realizes even as he says it, a desperation seizing him. They’ve drawn  _ far too much _ attention, and he has no idea how to fix it. They’d tarried at the battleground for too long and now there was no way they’d make it to Midgar unnoticed.

“I can deal with it.” Meara assures him, completely unbothered.  _ Calm and steady, _ she’d described herself. He sees that now in spades. 

It’s both reassuring and annoying. 

The helicopter’s chopping is loud and unyielding, and Zack gnaws on his lip as he tries to come up with an escape. Meara had proven capable of destroying a helicopter with ease, but to get away, they might just need one.

The chopping comes closer. “We need a plan.” Zack says harshly, drawing the Buster Sword and hovering protectively over Cloud. Meara’s staff glows, a barrier forming a dome around them.

“They’ll have to break this to reach us.” Meara says in a tone that clearly implies them incapable of such. 

The helicopter comes over the mesa and comes to a stop, hovering over them. For a long moment, Zack waits for it to do something.

He doesn’t expect the door to slide open.

He  _ really _ doesn’t expect Cissnei to hang out, waving wildly at them.

 

* * *

 

“You expect us to believe that?” Zack demands as he stands across from Cissnei. The helicopter is just a few yards away, still chopping air as they speak. 

“The Turks are no longer part of Shinra, Zack. The President signed our death warrants. All of us.” She explains. “When we heard about the plan to trap you here, Tseng called for us to help you. I volunteered. So did Rude and Reno.”

“Reno and Rude?” Zack scoffs. “They follow orders and that’s it. They don’t have any reason to betray Shinra.”

“Shinra betrayed  _ us.” _

“For what it’s worth,” Meara cuts in from where she’s sitting, several feet away with Cloud propped up next to her, “I believe her.”

“It’s worth nothing.” Zack snaps. Meara shrugs. Zack grimaces. “Fine, not  _ nothing, _ but it doesn’t matter right now. I know these people, you don’t.”

“Fair enough.” She agrees instantly.

For some ridiculous reason it makes him want to argue with her. He reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose, exhaling a harsh breath. “Why in the hell do you want to help us?”

Cissnei looks at him severely. “Tseng has something for you. Letters. From Aeris.”

Something in him goes cold and warm at once, and he feels it like a slap to the face.

“Please, Zack. Come with me. You’ll be safe with us, and we won’t make you stay if you don’t want to - but please at least come.”

Zack wars with himself for a moment. Cissnei has always been reliable, but to get to the Turks HQ meant getting into Shinra’s HQ. 

“You want us to go to the heart of Shinra with just your promises to keep us safe?” 

“We have Rufus Shinra prisoner.” Cissnei tells him bluntly.

He blinks.

“Ah.”

“You’ll be safe with us, Zack. Please.”

He bites the inside of his cheek.

“I swear it.” Cissnei vows.

Zack hesitates a moment longer, then nods. “Fine.” He exhales a harsh breath, turning to look away from her. “We’ll come. Cloud and I. Meara?”

“I’ll stay with you.” Meara says patiently. “If you need to get out of there, I’ll help you.”

Zack looks at Cissnei, hoping his expression shows how bad of an idea driving them to that would be, then turns back to Cloud and the supposed world-traveller. 

“Let’s go, then.”

 

* * *

 

The ride from the edge of the Wastes and into Midgar is tense. At least, for Zack it is. Meara, on the other hand, simply relaxes with her staff across her lap, patiently waiting for the ride to be over. She says nothing and does nothing, silently waiting. 

The crystal glows warm against his chest, tucked under his sword harness and caught between the leather and the cloth of his tank top. 

“We’re almost there.” Cissnei calls the warning just before they enter Midgar airspace. The air immediately changes, outright  _ tasting _ different than the air outside. Meara makes a disturbed face at that, frowning deeply. The Mako pollution clouds the sky and ruins the air, but Zack recalls a time when it hadn’t bothered him at all.

Freedom had reminded him what the real world was like, outside of this centralized hell of a city.

They touch down on the outskirts of Midgar’s HQ, on a pad on the side of the building. Cissnei silently turns everything off, the blades slowing down above their heads, and then turns to them. “Let’s go.” She says, standing up and walking into the main part of the helicopter. Meara doesn’t stand until he does, silently helping him with Cloud’s limp form. Cissnei pulls the door open, sliding the panel away, and Zack pauses - because Tseng stands just a few feet from the helicopter, a box in his hands.

“Come on.” Cissnei invites, jumping out of the aircraft. Zack hesitates before following, Meara helping him awkwardly shift Cloud in the process. She climbs down after Zack, holding her staff loosely at her side. Tseng glances at her questioningly, Cissnei walking over and rising onto her toes. She whispers into Tseng’s ear for several seconds, getting a short nod at the end of it, and then she backs away from them all with a small wave

Zack doesn’t say anything, waiting with Meara just a step behind him. After a moment, when the helicopters blades are almost at a stop, Tseng steps forward. “These are for you, Zack. From Aeris.” Tseng says quietly, offering him the box.

Zack hesitates a moment, Cloud leaning heavily against his side, before he reaches out. Tseng passes him the box without resistance. “This is real?” He asks, because it doesn’t feel like it. He can feel the papers shifting inside the box. Letters, if Cissnei is right. 

“This is real, Zack.” Tseng says quietly. “You know that. If it weren’t, we wouldn’t be talking right now. The Turks would have hunted you down months ago, but we didn’t. We aren’t your enemies.”

“You aren’t my friends, either.”

“Aren’t we?” Tseng asks softly. “Cissnei and I? Veld is gone, Zack. I’m the head of the Turks now.”

“Gone?”

“He betrayed us.” 

“I’m sorry.” Zack finds himself saying, almost numbly.

“So am I.” Tseng admits, glancing past Zack and to Cloud and Meara. “Come inside. We’ll find your friend a place to rest.”

“His name is Cloud.” Zack says, hefting Cloud up a little better. It’s hard with one arm, but Meara takes Cloud’s other side, helping him. “He has Mako poisoning.”

“Cissnei told me.” Tseng tells him, leading them into the building. 

“Oh.” Zack says simply, frowning. He’d run into Cissnei months ago, just outside Gongaga, with Cloud of course. He doesn’t remember telling her he had Mako poisoning, but the woman had probably pieced it together if he hadn’t.

It’s strange and beyond uncomfortable to be inside Shinra’s HQ again, but he forces himself to follow Tseng, Meara trailing a step behind. It’s almost comforting to have her there, considering the level of power she’d shown before. He doesn’t know or particularly trusts her, but he knows she can follow through on her promise to break them out if it comes down to it. 

She follows them like a silent shadow, all the way into the Turks’ own HQ. He expects to find Cissnei waiting within.

He doesn’t expect who stands beside her.

“Your prisoner, huh?” Zack says bitingly, coming to a halt. Rufus Fucking Shinra looks up from the desk he’d been leaning over, arching an eyebrow coldly at them. He recognizes the man instantly - and is once more struck by his resemblance to Lazard. 

“I am, for  all intents and purposes.” Rufus says blandly. “But I’m no more a friend to my father than the Turks are.”

“He was funding AVALANCHE, in a failed attempt to overthrow his father.” Tseng explains, drawing a hint of a grimace to Rufus’ otherwise superior expression. “We imprisoned him within our offices, but when the President turned on us, we started using him as a power card. So long as he stays with us, we’re safe.”

“And since we’re both conspiring against my father, why not become friends?” Rufus muses. “So we’re allies now, in any way that counts.”

“This is too much.” Zack snaps, pulling Cloud closer. “You brought me to the heart of Shinra’s HQ and now you ask me to trust Rufus  _ fucking _ Shinra?” He half turns towards Meara. “Get us out of here.”

“Wait!” Tseng urges, even as Meara lifts her staff. “Listen to us, Zack. At least do that much. We owe you an explanation, and Cissnei brought you here so we could give it.” 

Zack hesitates and Meara pauses, magic glowing at the tip of her staff.

He wonders if she could throw metal floors like she could boulders.

He hesitates. 

Cloud hangs limply at his side, and Zack has  _ no idea _ how to get out of this place, even with Meara helping.

“...Fine.” He says slowly, the magic immediately fading from Meara’s staff. Tseng and Cissnei relax. Rufus had never even tensed to begin with, just watched raptly. “We’ll listen.”

“First… who is she?” 

“None of your business.” Zack bites out instantly.

Truthfully, he doesn’t want to go through the introduction process again, especially when he still doesn’t believe half the thing she’d said to him. 

“Meara Greene.” Meara supplies regardless, her tone politely warm. “A friend of Zack’s.”

Tseng’s brow furrows slightly. 

Zack stares him down until he nods without asking a single question. 

“Let’s start, then.”   


* * *

 

Tseng explains everything. From the Nibelheim Incident, as it’s now called, to the AVALANCHE rebellion. “We refused to imprison you with Hojo. Even Reno refused. Veld was the only one willing to do it. Cissnei and I worked on your escape for months, but AVALANCHE interrupted our efforts.” he explains.

“Veld betrayed us for AVALANCHE. His daughter is the head of the organization, another experiment of Hojo’s.” 

“We stopped chasing you months ago. Once Veld left us, we abandoned our attempts to capture you, though Hojo didn’t know that. He’s interested in you, but he’s… lost interest in Cloud.”

“Once we heard that you’d been spotted, I sent out everyone. Every single Turk was out searching for you. They’re on their way back now. I wasn’t going to let them kill you.” Tseng concludes grimly.

“They would have.” Zack tells him, hovering over Cloud. They’re in one of the Turks’ rooms, Cloud resting on the bed, and Meara’s propped up next to the window, listening intently but watching the city with a strange expression. “Meara saved my life.”

Tseng pauses for a second, clearly wanting to ask for more information. “...Well we are grateful to her, then.” He says in the end. Zack nods sharply. 

“My pleasure.” Meara says from the window, not taking her eyes off it. “I enjoy saving lives.”

“Lucky me.” Zack snorts softly. She grins. 

It’s his turn to share, he decides, and he bites his lip before giving in. “Meara’s from another world. She came here to save my life.”

“Not your life.” Meara corrects, finally looking away from the window. Her grin is long gone now. “Your life is just a stepping stone. I’m here to save the  _ world.” _

 

* * *

 

It takes the Turks (and Rufus), even more convincing to believe her than it had taken him. Zack had accepted the tale out of sheeg incredulous exhaustion, but Tseng was unrelenting in his interrogation about this ‘other Planet’. In the end, it takes over an hour and a number of demonstrations of her magic for him to believe her. 

“If you’re looking for people who can talk to the Planet,” Tseng says slowly at the end of it, immediately holding Meara’s rapt attention, “I know where you can start.”

Zack can honestly say he doesn’t expect it at all.

He doesn’t expect  _ any of it. _

 

* * *

 

Meara and Aeris together is unbelievable. Zack and Tseng watch as they interact, Cloud’s unconscious body propped up on one of the pews. 

“No, no. You’re yelling at it, Aeris.” Meara corrects the girl. They’re sitting cross legged in the dirt and flowers, hands out and palmed upturned. A globe of  _ wind _ hovers between Meara’s hands, but refuses to come to Aeris. “You need to coax it. Think of it like a child.” Meara explains, the wind shifting playfully from side to side. “An overly playful child. Mischievous and always ready for trouble.”

The wind shifts towards Aeris and Meara smiles broadly. After a moment of hesitation, the globe moves from Meara’s hands to Aeris’, going from a smooth orb to a sloshing circle. 

“You can’t soothe it. You can only channel it.” Meara advises, the circle losing some of it’s rough edges. “You’re doing very good.” Meara applauds, smiling so wide it makes Zack’s cheeks hurt to look at. 

“She’s a good mentor.” Tseng murmurs to Zack.

“Very good.” He agrees.

He hadn’t known anything about Aeris’ heritage before their visit, but he’s glad to know it now.

If only because he’s never seen the girl smile so happily or look so comfortable before in his life.

“Oh!” Aeris cries out suddenly, and with that, the wind vanishes in a rushing plume. Meara laughs, bright and high pitched.

“You can’t harness it for long, the air. It doesn’t like it.”

“Oh.” Aeris looks mildly disappointed until Meara scoops up a handful of earth and offers it to her. “I can already move the earth.” Aeris admits, glancing shyly towards him and Tseng. Zack offers her a wide grin, as encouraging as he can make it, and and her smile grows in response.

“Earth is easy. Steady and reliable.” Meara says agreeably, the earth shifting in her hand. It compacts itself into a ball, a tiny version of the destructive power she’d shown Zack before. “It doesn’t play like the air, move like the water, or burn like fire. It’s just earth. Solid and certain.” She lifts a finger, the earth hovering just over her fingertip. “Take it from me.”

Aeris offers up a hand. The earth moves steadily from Meara’s fingertip to hers, unlike the air had. “It’s easy.” Aeris muses and Meara nods. 

“It’ll always be easy. Like I said.” Meara shoots Zack a grin at this, and it takes him a minute to remember her telling him that. 

He’d almost forgotten in the ridiculous wave of  _ what _ that that entire conversation had drowned him in.

“I use a staff too.” Aeris says suddenly and Meara grins.

“It’s easiest to channel our magic through a staff, isn’t it? Would you like to know why?” She asks, pulling her staff from the ground next to her and laying it across her lap. When Aeris nods, she speaks. “It’s wood. The life of the Planet. We can channel our magic through it with ease because it’s part of our magic. It’s part of life. Metal? Metal is unyielding and slow. Heavy and cold. We can channel magic through it, but it’s much more difficult.” 

“Metal comes from the earth.” Tseng points out and Meara glances over, nodding.

“Yes, but it’s not alive. Not like wood is. Metal is just that - metal. Cold and dead.” She reaches behind her and draws a knife from the small of her back, flipping it over to present the hilt to Aeris. Tseng tenses at Zack’s side and Aeris eyes it warily. 

“I don’t want it.” She says in a small voice.

Meara blinks, then withdraws the knife as fast as she’d drawn it. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to offend.”

“You didn’t, it’s just… I don’t like knives.”

“I understand.” Meara assures her. “Now, earth is easy to control, but can you do this?” Meara places her hand on the ground, pressing down for a moment. Magic sizzles in the air and Meara pulls her hand up, a chunk of earth glued to her palm. Aeris watches with wide eyes, wariness vanishing and eagerness taking its place. 

“Teach me.”

 

* * *

 

“I wasn’t wrong.” Meara tells him quietly, while Aeris is practicing and Tseng is observing. “This world is different. You can’t hear Her, yet you’re a Warrior of Light. Aeris can hear Her, but she isn’t.”

“She’s not?” Zack asks, surprised. He doesn’t believe in this ‘Warrior of Light’ nonsense, but Meara does, and he tries to listen anyways. 

“No. She’s an Archon.”

“A what?”

“Someone powerful that helps the Warriors. A champion of the Planet, but not blessed by Her.” Meara pauses for a moment, exhaling slowly through her nose. “My husband is an Archon.”

Zack blinks at the strange note in her voice. “Oh?”

“Yes. He’s very powerful, not unlike yourself. Physically skilled in ways I can barely match. He fights with knives, though, not a large sword.”

“Ah.”

“I think Cloud is like me.” She says suddenly, looking over at the limp form. “When I’m around him, the water stone I carry begins to warm.”

“To warm?” He reaches up and almost automatically touches his own crystal, tucked against his chest. 

“Yes. The magic is calling to him, like the magic in that crystal called to you.” 

“You’re a strange woman, you know that?” Zack says suddenly and she laughs unrepentantly.

“Well I’m from another Planet, Zack. What do you expect?”

A fair point. 

“You could at least try to make sense sometimes.”

“Boring. Dull and boring, Zack, and very unlike you.” She pauses for a moment, then shoots him a curious look. “The air crystal calls to you, you know.”

“I thought I already have a crystal.”

“There are many. Air, earth, water, fire, lightning, ice… many crystals, and each one makes us stronger. I have all of them, sans the fire crystal I gave you.”

“It weakened you?” Zack asks, touching the stone again, and it warms under his fingers.

“Arguably. But that’s alright. I’m quite strong enough on my own. I came here to spread my strength, to strengthen those part of this world. I’d be remiss in my duty if I hoarded my crystals.”

“So, what? You’re going to give them to me?”

“Just the one. The rest you’ll have to earn yourself.”

“And, what? This gives me power over fire?”

“No, no.” She almost laughs. “No, it’s just power - but it’s a fire affinity. My powers come from practice and knowledge, not from my crystals. My  _ strength _ comes from the crystals. Without them, I would be much weaker, though I’m still rather strong in my own right. I was always skilled as a girl.”

“I was always skilled, too. I become a SOLDIER at thirteen.”

“I was a street urchin.” Meara says, then laughs at his expression. “Yes, truly. A street urchin who became very skilled in thievery. Eventually, my skills were noticed, and I was taken in by an organization for people like me. We stole from the rich and gave to the poor. So to speak, at least.”

“So to speak?”

“Well, we had to make a living for ourselves as well, of course. That’s where I met my husband. We were robbers together.”

“What changed?” He asks, watching out of the corner of his eyes as Aeris tries to pull a clump of earth straight from the ground. She almost manages it, but the clump falls apart the moment it’s free. 

“A man found us. An Archon. He recognized us for what we were. Skilled beyond all rights. He took us in, becoming the first Archon and us the second and third.”

“But you aren’t an Archon.”

“No. But I wasn’t always a Warrior of Light. That… wasn’t until several years ago. It’s complicated.” 

It  _ sounds _ complicated, Zack can’t help but think. “Don’t worry about it.” He says dismissively, watching Aeris again.

“She’s good.” Meara says quietly. “A natural. Very skilled.”

“I had no idea.” Zack admits. “She never told me.”

“I never told my husband, either.” She says sadly. “Eventually, these things come to light, however. He realized there was more to me than he first thought, and now you realize it about her.”

“We aren’t together.” 

“No?” She asks, looking honestly surprised. “You act like it. Both of you.” Aeris chooses that moment to look up, smiling at Zack, and he can’t help but smile back. “I think you’re just confused.” Meara says decisively. “You just need to talk to one another. Tseng!” Meara calls and Zack grimaces, realizing immediately her intentions.

“Meara-”

“Just talk to her.” Meara says dismissively, stepping towards the approaching Tseng. “I want to speak to you about something, if you have a moment,” Meara requests politely.

Tseng arches a brow but nods and lets her draw him aside.

Zack watches them go a little helplessly, barely hearing the words ‘Rufus’ and ‘Midgar’ before they get too far away from him. 

After a moment, he looks back and finds Aeris looking at him with both worry and curiosity.

He bites back a grimace and approaches her.

* * *

 

There’s no holding back when it comes to speaking to Aeris. Every word is drawn from him by just the look on her face. The sympathy and care, the worry and fear, and the concerned way she touches his hands as he speaks. 

He tells her everything, from the Nibelheim Incident onwards, and she listens with the patience of a goddess. 

When he’s done speaking, she hugs him tightly. “I missed you. I missed you so much it hurt.”  Aeris admits quietly. “Don’t leave me again.”

He holds her tightly back, silent for several moments before speaking. “I won’t. I won’t leave you ever again. Never.” He vows fiercely.

Her hands fist the back of his shirt, trembling slightly before nodding. “Good. I won’t let you go.”

He chuckles tiredly at that. “I fought so hard to get here, Aeris. I’m so glad to have made it back to you.”

“I’m glad, too, Zack.” 

 

* * *

 

When they leave the church, Aeris comes with them, a staff held tightly at her side. She balks slighlty at the idea of entering Shinra’s HQ, but she refuses to leave Zack’s side. Meara, on the other hand, spends the trip in quiet conversation with Tseng. Zack hears bits and pieces of it, only enough to know it has to do with Rufus and the Mako Reactors. 

So he’s not terribly surprised when, on entering the Turks’ HQ, she goes straight for Rufus. The Turk who had been talking to him, a woman with long grey hair, backs away with a small frown. “I hear you’re next in line for the presidency.” Meara says by way of hello, arms folding across her chest. Rufus blinks, sitting on the edge of a desk, and meets her gaze with steady confidence.

“I am, yes. What does that have to do with you?” He asks rudely. 

“I have a vested interest in seeing the Mako Reactors shut down immediately. Or as soon as possible. I understand they power people’s homes, yes? So shutting them down abruptly would leave many without heating or power, which could cause problems - but there are alternative ways of gathering power.” Meara says firmly. “Shut down the Reactors. Invest in alternate means. Wind energy, hydroelectricity, even Materia. But shut down the Reactors, and I will make you the president myself.”

Rufus stares at her. Zack stares at her.

Tseng stares at her.

Meara arches an eyebrow at the silence, unimpressed. 

“And if I don’t?” Rufus asks slowly, looking like he’s torn between incredulity and severity.

“I’ll destroy this entire city and then I’ll destroy every Reactor myself. Ask Zack - I can do it if I please.”

Rufus’ blue eyes dart to his. Zack nods. He looks back at Meara. “And what is in it for me to comply?”

“I’ll go upstairs right now and kill your father. No one will be able to stop me.”

“Meara-” Tseng starts to protest, Aeris pressing closer to Zack’s side. 

Meara ignores him. “If you doubt my-”

“Do it.” Rufus cuts her off, brows arching expectantly. “Kill my father and I’ll shut down as many Reactors as I can right now.”

“And you’ll look into alternative means?”

“Tseng. Isn’t Tuesti interested in wind energy?”

“Yes, sir.” Tseng says slowly, looking like he’s bitten into a lemon.

“Go talk to him about wind machines and hydroelectricity.”

“Sir-”

“Do it. I’m about to be your President.” Rufus says coldly, looking at Meara with narrow eyes. The woman stares back at him, undeterred. “Go on with it, then.”

She nods curtly, reaching back to draw her knife. “Excuse me. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

She strides past a startled Zack and shaken Aeris, disappearing into the nearest elevator. Tseng, looking a little ill, turns to leave as well. He takes the stairs.

Ten minutes later, the alarms go off in the building, and Meara returns from the elevator, wiping her knife off with a cloth. She tosses the cloth to Rufus, who catches it before it can hit his face, and he eyes the red stains with something akin to disbelief.

“I left a message.” Meara tells him.

When the news comes on the next morning, there’s a picture of the President’s office.

Written on the wall in his own blood reads, ‘AVALANCHE was here.’

 

* * *

 

“You don’t even seem to regret it.”

“I don’t.” Meara admits freely, sitting up in bed to look over at Zack’s. They’re in the Turks’ quarters, sleeping in a room that has four beds. Aeris and Cloud occupy the other two across from them. 

“You didn’t even hesitate.”

“I didn’t.”

“You killed someone.”

“Yes.” 

“How can you be so uncaring?” Zack demands, propping up on his elbows to stare at her. “How can you be completely flippant about this?”

“All things considered, it’s actually the least bloody overthrow I’ve orchestrated.”

“Is this a joke to you?”

“At a certain point, everything becomes a joke. But no, it’s not, Zack. I’ve simply learned a lesson that you haven’t yet.”

“And what lesson is that?” 

She fixes him with a severe, almost pitying look. “Some lives aren’t worth saving.”

For a moment, he can’t even respond to that. It’s strange to think of this woman as the same one who had been patiently and cheerfully teaching Aeris to move air. Now, she’s cold and uncaring. A hardened murderer instead of a gentle teacher. “You murdered him.”

“Yes. I did.”

“No one deserves that.”

“No one?” She echoes, arching a brow. “What about a man who murdered and entire temple of people for having faith in a god? The King of Ruin, they called him. He was murdered. Did he not deserve it?”

“I-”

“And the one who murdered him enslaved the King’s entire race of people. The Ala Mhigans suffered under his rule for a decade, tortured and murdered for the smallest slight. And on the day I killed their ruler, he was unrepentant and uncaring. I murdered him for his actions.”

“That’s different.”

“It’s not.” Meara corrects him, using the same patient tone she’d taught Aeris with. “Some people need to die for others to live. Sometimes decisions must be made. That man who was President was directly causing the deaths of thousands. All this Plate nonsense? The ones under Plate are suffering and ailing because of the Mako Reactors. I killed the President, the Mako Reactors are being shut down, and now those people will no longer be killed by the air they breathe.”

“He was a bad man, I won’t argue that, but you just…”

“Murdered him. Yes. I know.” Meara says quietly. “I won’t deny it. I don’t regret it. I’m here for a reason, Zack. Without me, that man’s orders would have meant your death. Without me, that man would still be hunting for you and Cloud. I’ve taken him away and now he’s no longer a threat to anyone.”

“Hojo was the one after us, not the President.” Zack says, almost tiredly, and regrets it when Meara’s eyes gleam.

“Yes. And he’s next.”

“No.” 

“You can’t stop me, Zack.” Meara points out. “And I don’t mean that idly. I mean you truly can’t. And why would you bother? The man experimented on you for years. Tortured you. He tortured Aeris, too.” Her voice softens. “You saw how terrifying it was for her to be here. She hasn’t forgotten the torment of being his playtoy.”

“Why are you taking these things so personally? You barely even know us.”

“I’m not. I’m showing you why  _ you _ should be taking it personally. As for me? My reasons for hating Hojo are simple. I hate all men who torture people. I’ve been a victim of it before, Zack, and I’ll never forget that. You shouldn’t, either.”

He bites back his first reaction to lash out, glaring in her general direction. “I won’t let you use my torture as your excuse to murder someone.”

“It’s not murder. It’s defense. Not of myself, but of others. Those who are  _ still victim _ to Hojo. Or did you think he’d stopped after you?” Meara smiles bitterly. “They never stop at just one victim, Zack. Think outside yourself and realize why sometimes,  _ people deserve to die.” _

“That doesn’t mean it’s okay to murder them.”

“Then let me do the murdering, Zack, and don’t worry your pretty head over it.”

He scowls but she doesn’t pay him any attention, laying back down and closing her eyes.

He glares at her form for a few moments longer, then lays down as well.

By the time morning comes, she’s gone and Hojo is already dead.

* * *

 

Rufus takes Shinra Corporation by storm. 

Within the first three hours, he’s announced the shutting down of three Mako Reactors, and plans to shut down the Gongaga Reactor. The Nibelheim Reactor could apparently withstand the strain of powering Gongaga in it’s absence, and the excess Mako produced by the other Reactors in Midgar would keep the lights on and the air flowing. 

“All in a day’s work.” Meara says, sharpening her knife as she does. 

The red cat-creature at her side snorts. A victim of Hojo, she’d introduced him. “Nanaki.” He’d clarified. And so it was that the creature had become part of ‘them’. 

She leans back against the wall of the President’s office, blood still staining the glass wall behind the desk. Rufus sits at the desk, perched like he’s always owned it, and Tseng stands at his side. 

Aeris sits on the floor next to Nanaki, playing with his fiery tail in some fascination, and Meara smiles down at them as she sharpens her knife.

Zack stands there and watches helplessly. 

“I’ll have half the Mako Reactors down in six months, give or take a week or two. Reeve believes we can convert the Junon Reactor into a hydroelectricity farm and power half of Midgar with it alone.”

“A good start.” Meara approves. Rufus grimaces.

“I don’t like it. Mako is easily the most profitable energy source we have.”

“Yes, it’s a very nice product, if you ignore all the death and destruction.” Meara agrees.

Nanaki snorts again. 

“Wind power is woefully weak in comparison, but the prices to maintain the new energy sources are much cheaper. Mako Reactors are terribly expensive to maintain.”

“And we can’t have that.” Zack scoffs and get a small glare from Rufus.

Funny how the man doesn’t care if Meara is the one making comments. 

Maybe that’s a byproduct of her being his personal hitwoman.

“Six Reactors down, plus the three already down. Nine Reactors in six months.” Meara muses. “That leaves how many?”

“Five.”

“Very nice.” Meara approves, nodding her head. “So we’ll see the end of Mako Reactors within a year?”

“No. Two years. We need time to build new methods of producing energy, and a half-year to convert the Junon facility. That’s with all our means being focused on it, as well.” Rufus refutes with a grimace. “If we dedicate some of our staff and production to building windmills, we can cut off the Mako Reactors in Midgar sooner, but the outlying cities need more fuel than we’ll be able to provide. Windmills and hydroelectricity farms will need to be built to supply them with power.”

“I see.” Meara frowns down at her knife, making a complicated expression.

“What’s wrong?” Zack asks slowly.

“Hm?” She blinks at him, then shakes her head. “Nothing. I was just thinking… I’d rather not be here for two years.”

“Be here? You plan to leave?”

“Oh, yes.” Meara confirms, sliding her knife away and making the whetstone disappear  _ somewhere _ in her jacket. The thing seemed to have endless numbers of pockets, and space where it had no right to have any given how tightly it hugs her body. “I only came to help Gaia, not to live here. I have people waiting for me back home. The other Warriors of Light, and my Archons.”

“The other Warriors? There are more of you?” Zack balks and for some reason this makes her smile.

“There are four of us. Three others. Y’vhanrika, a Miqo’te woman, Aelina, a Hyur like me, and Thosinias, a Roegadyn.”

None of that made any sense, so Zack just makes a quiet ‘ah’ sound and moves on. “Four of you, huh?”

“There’s usually four.”

“What do you mean?” Aeris asks curiously, now petting Nanaki’s mane. 

“Well, we come and go. Sometimes the world doesn’t need Warriors. Sometimes it needs four, sometimes it needs five. Sometimes it needs  _ nine. _ It depends on the times, and the Planet.” Meara explains. “Someday we’ll die and the world will have new Warriors of Light. ‘When darkness veils the world, four Warriors of Light shall appear, and in the hand, each will hold a crystal’.” Meara clearly quotes, almost wistfully. “That’s what my mentor always told us. We didn’t know at the time that I would be one of them. Of course, it isn’t strictly accurate. One world, there were five Warriors of Light. They’re the reason I’m here.” 

“The reason?” Zack echoes questioningly and she nods.

“Yes. They…” She hesitates, one hand rising to rub at her chest. “They’d turned from the light. One of them, he wounded me quite badly. I was well on the way to death when the Lifestream took me.”

“Isn’t that the same as dying?”

“No.” Aeris is the one to answer, startling Zack. “No, you mean it  _ took  _ you. While you were still alive.”

“Yes. It took me.” Meara looks unbearably sad all of a sudden, biting her lip. “And I may not be able to return.”

For a long minute, silence fills the room at that.

“Then you’d best get to work.” Rufus says in a perfectly mild tone. She blinks, coming back to herself, and looks over at him questioningly. “Tseng, find her a suit that fits. You’re going to be one of my closest advisors, Meara Greene.”

Zack watches as her lips split into a smile at that, trying not to feel too worried.

Aeris smiles fro m her place on the floor. “You’ll have to teach me more tricks.”

“Of course.” Mea ra says fondly.

Zack isn’t sure if he should be glad or frightened by the concept of her actually  _ staying. _

“Welcome home.” Aeris says, oblivious to Zacks internal struggle.

In the end, as Meara beams at Aeris, he settles on  _ dread. _

 

 

* * *

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the story! Please comment, I love to hear from you all!


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